The Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and the Useful Arts was a membership organization of Philadelphia's political, mercantile, and manufacturing elite to promote the causes of domestic manufacturers, particularly textiles. The society was founded in Philadelphia in August 1787 by policitcal economist, Tench Coxe (1755-1824) and his associates. A separate "manufacturing fund" was established under the control of a twelve-man manufacturing committee for the purposes of building and operating experimental factories.

The committee began operations under Samuel Wetherhill (1736-1816) in 1787. In 1788, the committee had built a cotton factory on 9th and Market Streets that included four jennies and twenty-six handlooms.

A fire destroyed the factory on March 24, 1790. The loss of most of the factory's capital assets and inventory caused the manufacturing committee to suspend operations. Its accounts were settled in 1801. By then, the Napoleonic Wars had drawn most of Philadelphia's available capital into the lucrative neutral carrying trade. After the Peace of Amiens, Tench Coxe attempted to revive the society in 1804, but the resumption of war ended further activity.